1 A Frog's Life

A Frog's Life written by Pam Holden

帕姆·霍尔顿的《青蛙的生活》

amphibian Frogs are very unusual animals. They can move in many ways, such as jumping, hopping, swimming and diving. They make an unusual sound: croak-croak or ribbit-ribbit. Frogs are amphibians, as they can live on land or in water. They have webbed feet for swimming. Their big round eyes stick out on the top of their heads so that they can see all the way around. Most frogs are green or brown with markings that help them hide from their enemies.

青蛙是非常不寻常的动物。 它们可以用很多方式移动，比如跳跃、跳跃、游泳和潜水。 它们发出一种不寻常的声音:呱呱或呱呱。 青蛙是两栖动物，它们既可以生活在陆地上，也可以生活在水中。 它们的脚有蹼，适于游泳。 它们的大而圆的眼睛突出在头顶上，这样它们就能看到周围的一切。 大多数青蛙是绿色或棕色的，带有帮助它们躲避敌人的斑纹。

Frogs also have an unusual life cycle. In springtime, they lay thousands of eggs that float in ponds or streams. But these eggs, called spawn, don't hatch into baby frogs. Instead they hatch into quite different little animals called tadpoles, which have round, black bodies and long tails. A tadpole has a mouth, but no legs. spawn

青蛙也有不同寻常的生命周期。 在春天，它们产下成千上万的卵，这些卵漂浮在池塘或溪流中。 但是这些卵，被称为卵，不会孵化成小青蛙。 相反，它们孵化成完全不同的小动物，叫做蝌蚪，它们有圆形的黑色身体和长长的尾巴。 蝌蚪有嘴，但没有腿。 产卵

tadpoles Tadpoles live in water and breathe through gills like fish. For the first ten days, they hang onto plants. Then they start to swim around finding plants for food. After four to six weeks, their gills begin to disappear, but they can still breathe underwater. They grow tiny teeth, and their tails get shorter.

蝌蚪生活在水中，像鱼一样用鳃呼吸。 在最初的十天里，它们依附在植物上。 然后它们开始四处游动，寻找植物作为食物。 四到六周后，它们的鳃开始消失，但它们仍能在水下呼吸。 它们长出细小的牙齿，尾巴变短。

When the tadpoles are six to nine weeks old, they develop back legs with webbed feet. Their bodies become longer as their tails get shorter still. They begin to breathe air, by coming to the top of the water.

当蝌蚪六到九周大的时候，它们的后腿长出了蹼足。 它们的身体变长了，尾巴却变短了。 它们游到水面上，开始呼吸空气。

After nine weeks, the tadpoles develop short front legs. They begin to change to green or brown. They look more like frogs, with head shapes showing. Their eyes are bigger, but they still have tails.

9周后，蝌蚪的前腿变短了。 它们开始变成绿色或棕色。 它们看起来更像青蛙，露出头的形状。 它们的眼睛更大，但它们仍然有尾巴。